Rob Thomas - ...Something To Be

Genre pop Publisher Melisma / Atlantic External Links Official Website Atlantic Records

There are spots scattered about on Rob Thomas' solo debut ...Something To Be that hint at what could have been had Thomas truly let go the clutches of his inner vanilla. Alas, the Thomas that dares to shed his Matchbox Twenty skin on the sauntering pop gem, "Lonely No More" soon crawls back into his old identities' clothes. Finding the warmth of the familiar enveloping and keeping him safe from harm there.

It really is a shame, because, as evidenced on his collaboration with Carlos Santana on 1999's "Smooth," the man has it in him. Why else would he have ever wanted to do a full album without the other nameless/faceless members of Matchbox Twenty if it wasn't to do something wholly different?

As much as I may not like the results, credit Gwen Stefani for going in a different direction from her band No Doubt on her recent solo debut. She definitely knew what she wanted to say, while Thomas seems uncertain and afraid.

As previously noted, Thomas has his fits and starts, (album opener "This Is How A Heart Breaks," while a little cheesy, is an energetic bit of blue-eyed soul) but the middle is a soggy piece of Wonder bread.

"Lonely No More" is a gloriously absurd mashing of white boy funk. Thomas is on Justin Timberlake's turf here and he holds his own. This is the song that will make all the drunk hot girls in every bar in every suburban town get down and grind into one another for sure.

...Something To Be picks up some slack at the end with "Streetcorner Symphony," another white boy soul piece that grooves like a Hall & Oates comeback. While "Now Comes The Night" is a really pretty ballad featuring Thomas accompanied only by keyboards. Thomas comforts an unidentified lover with "No I will not leave you crying/and I will not let you down." But he has let this listener down just a bit. The question is, does it bother him to see the look of disappointment?